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Coupon policies requre education for all

Posted: January 20, 2013 - 12:15am

Michelle Rubrecht

Recently I have had a few savvy shoppers contact me regarding incidents in local stores where their coupons were denied.

The reason they were denied was because the cashier (and sometimes manager) didn’t understand coupon terminology. I have heard horror stories of coupons being denied by cashiers because they didn’t understand this term.

Others have had to break their transactions up into separate transactions, which did not allow them to use their dollars-off total purchase coupons.

I promise, I have run into this myself a time or two. I always use it as an opportunity to educate someone else on how they could save money by couponing.

Do not take it personally; the cashier is just trying to do his or her job.

My advice to you is to stay calm when this happens and try to educate the cashier on what the wording actually means.

If this doesn’t work, then ask to talk to a manager or contact the corporate office. Most managers will welcome the opportunity to correct this because coupons are a money-maker for their stores, and they do not want to see cashiers refusing legitimate coupons.

We have some absolutely wonderful cashiers and managers in our area; those who do not understand coupons are few and far between.

Please know that I appreciate all of you, especially when I run into an encounter where someone doesn’t understand coupons.

The biggest misunderstood wording on a coupon is “limit one per purchase.” I am going to define this term as it applies to all stores. This is a term that is placed on the coupon by the manufacturer, not the store.

• “Limit one per purchase” means that if you have a $1 off one Gain detergent coupon, you could use one coupon on each bottle of Gain that you purchased. If you purchased five bottles of Gain, you could use five coupons.

• An item is a purchase; it’s that simple.

• The coupon defines how many items you must buy for that coupon. For example, if the coupon was for $1 off two Gain detergents, then I could use one coupon for every two bottles of Gain I purchased. If I purchased 10 bottles of Gain, I could use five $1 off two coupons.

• The reason this terminology is printed on the coupon is to prevent people from picking up one bottle of Gain and using two or more $1 off one coupons on the same bottle. You have to satisfy the purchase requirement separately for each coupon you are using.

• This absolutely does not mean that you may only use one coupon for your entire grocery order. You do not have to split up your transactions to use more than one coupon because it states “limit one per purchase.”

Exceptions to rules

Limits on the coupon: Sometimes the coupons themselves limit the number of the same coupons that you can use.

Read the coupon carefully to avoid surprises at the register. Some of the manufacturers have put their own limits on the number of like coupons you can use in a shopping trip. P&G limits you to four like coupons per shopping trip.

I have seen other manufacturers that have a limit of two like coupons per shopping trip.

Store limits on like coupons: There are times when there will be special circumstances that will limit the number of coupons that you may use.

For example, some stores have their own policies on the number of like coupons that you may use.

• Target allows four like coupons to be used.

• Kroger allows five like coupons to be used; limit of two Internet printables per manufacturer.

• Food Lion and Harveys allow up to 10 like coupons.

Store limits on doubling like coupons: Some stores do not have limits on the number of like coupons you can use, but will only double a specific amount of coupons.